Failing at Friendship, and the Freedom to be Known
By Ryan Couch
09/04/26
21mins

Failing at Friendship, and the Freedom to be Known

The greatest obstacle to friendship in middle age isn't that nobody wants friends. It's that everyone is waiting for someone else to go first. But here's the good news: Christ has already gone first for you. And because He has, you are free to go first for someone else.
Eternity is Written on our Hearts
Russ Lackey
Russ Lackey
09/02/26

Eternity is Written on our Hearts

Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for everything under heaven. But God has also placed eternity in our hearts, and that makes us strange creatures: able to rejoice in this life yet always aching for a life that only Christ can give.
The Priest Had No Chair
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
08/28/26

The Priest Had No Chair

What does it take to draw near to God? It takes a perfect priest, a finished work, and a broken body to open the way. In short, it takes everything, which is exactly what Christ has given for you.

All Articles

Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/07/19

Dear God, Leave Me Alone

David and Job both know that prayer puts a cigarette lighter to all prim and proper books of religious etiquette. It is honest. Heated. Emotional. Raw. And the psalms are packed with it.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
11/05/19

Prepare for Suffering

A new life in Christ Jesus is our hope. Not only that, Jesus is our access to God.
Kyle G. Jones
Kyle G. Jones
11/04/19

When the Dead Preach the Gospel

His kingdom is not one of force and might for our exploitation and his gain, but one of his patience and long-suffering for our benefit.
Ken Sundet Jones
Ken Sundet Jones
10/31/19

Reformation Day: Hey Beggar, You're Free!

When we hear freedom, we have to ask about its opposite, bondage.
Kathy Morales
Kathy Morales
10/31/19

Haunted

The devil knows our name and labels us by our sin. The devil breathes out death as he names us for what we are, sinners.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/31/19

Church Trash, Cotton Candy Spiritualism, and God's Ongoing Reformation

All major and minor reformations happen not because people react but because God acts. He reforms. He looks down from heaven, has mercy upon his starving children, and ends the famine of the Word by sending the rain of the Gospel.
Jessica Thompson
Jessica Thompson
10/30/19

Becoming Like Weaned Children

I would like to tell you all that I have learned this discipline that I am like a weaned child living in full quietness, confident in God’s love and care for me. I cannot.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
10/29/19

Jesus Will Humble You, and That's Good

Humility kills pride. So “humble yourself before the Lord,” as James writes (Jas 4:10). Kill your pride before it kills the things you love. Subdue it before it gets you into the kind of trouble that may even kill you. Conquer your pride before it defeats you. It’s that simple, but we all know it’s not that easy.
Norman Nagel
Norman Nagel
10/29/19

Don't Condemn That Pharisee

We would be utterly miserable if we could not find somebody less than ourselves, somebody to look down on, somebody to make us more pleased with ourselves.
Kyle G. Jones
Kyle G. Jones
10/28/19

On Freedom in Christ and the Parable of the Forgiving Father

Like the younger son, we can return to our Father every time our sinful hearts rebel against him. Like the older brother, we can complain and lament to our Father without fear of being destroyed.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/28/19

You Can’t Be Late to Church—Here’s Why

We show up to this crowded sacred shindig on Sundays, all wings and halos and blue jeans, and shimmy our way into the sanctuary, late to church but not late to church, for how can we be late to a service that never ends?
Joel Fitzpatrick
Joel Fitzpatrick
10/24/19

Ugly Prayer and the God of Sleep

God broke into the midst of our pain and allows us to bring our requests to him as those who are counted as “godly.”
1517 is a Christian non-profit (501(c)3) multi-media organization. Our mission is to declare and defend the Good News that we are forgiven and free on account of the death and resurrection of Jesus alone.
1517.org
Search
Academy
Donate

1517 grants permission for our free online resources to be printed, photocopied, and otherwise used freely for private and church use. We require that authorship and source (1517.org) are referenced and maintained. These resources may not be sold or included in any publications for sale.